Area of a rectangle - Definition with Examples

What is Area of a Rectangle?

The area of a two-dimensional shape is the space occupied by the shape. In the given rectangle, the shaded space is the area of the rectangle.

Finding the area of a rectangular wall helps us in finding the amount of color required to paint it. Likewise, we can calculate the space occupied by a rectangular lawn in a park by finding the area of the rectangle. We measure the area in square units. 

By finding the number of unit squares that are required to fill a shape, we can calculate its area. Since each unit square occupies one square unit space, so the total number of unit squares in the shape gives its area.

Consider a rectangle of length 6 in. and width 3 in. It can be filled with 3 rows and 6 columns of unit squares.

The rectangle can be shown on top of a 10x10 grid with shaded inside the rectangle.

Each of these squares has an area of 1 square inch, and in the rectangle, there are 18 such squares. So, the area of the rectangle is 18 square inches. In other words, the area of a rectangle is the product of its length and width. That is, A = l x w where l is the length and w is the width of the rectangle. 

For example, the area of a rectangle of length 35 m and width 25 m is 35 times 25 or 875 square meters.

A rectangular room has a length of 16 feet and a width of 18 feet. How much carpet is required to cover the entire room?